Picking up on absurd statements CNN founder Ted Turner made on Tuesday's Charlie Rose show on PBS, comments first reported late that night on NewsBusters, FNC's Bret Baier, filling in for Brit Hume, reported on Thursday's Special Report how “Turner believes that inaction on global warming will lead to cannibalism,” that he “went on to ridicule the U.S. military” and that he described Iraqi insurgents who are killing Americans as “patriots.”

The Drudge Report on Wednesday morning linked to the NewsBusters post and Rush Limbaugh played the “cannibal” clip on his radio show later in the day.

My April 2 early morning NewsBusters posting (with video and audio), “Turner: Global Warming Will Cause Mass Cannibalism, Insurgents Are Patriots,” recounted:

Interviewed Tuesday for Charlie Rose's PBS show, CNN founder Ted Turner argued that inaction on global warming "will be catastrophic" and those who don't die "will be cannibals." He also applied moral equivalence in describing Iraqi insurgents as "patriots" who simply "don't like us because we've invaded their country" and so "if the Iraqis were in Washington, D.C., we'd be doing the same thing." On not taking drastic action to correct global warming: "Not doing it will be catastrophic. We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

Turner ridiculed the need for a big U.S. military, insisting "China just wants to sell us shoes. They're not building landing craft to attack the United States," and "even with our $500 billion military budget, we can't win in Iraq. We're being beaten by insurgents who don't even have any tanks." After Rose pointed out the Iraqi insurgents "have a lot of roadside bombs that kill a lot of Americans" and wondered "where do you think they come from?", Turner answered: "I think that they're patriots and that they don't like us because we've invaded their country and occupied it. I think if the Iraqis were in Washington, D.C., we'd be doing the same thing: we'd be bombing them too. Nobody wants to be invaded."

Baier's item in full on the Thursday, April 3 Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC:

If you thought some people are concerned about climate change -- CNN's founder Ted Turner believes that inaction on global warming will lead to cannibalism. Interviewed earlier this week on PBS, Turner said that in 30 or 40 years quote, “none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

Changing topics, Turner then went on to ridicule the U.S. military saying: "Even with our 500 billion dollar military budget, we can't win in Iraq. We're being beaten by insurgents who don't even have any tanks." Interviewer Charlie Rose then asked Turner what he thought about insurgents using roadside bombs. Turner replied, quote: "I think they're patriots and that they don't like us because we've invaded their country and occupied it."

Though FNC's screen text listed the date as March 31, Turner appeared on the April 1 edition of Rose's show.

—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center